“I believe in a visual language that should be as strong as the written word.” – David LaChapelle

“I was always painting when I was a kid. But then when I handled a camera when I was 17, that was it for me. I loved photography. I would work 4 or 5 hours a day. It was like a calling.” – David LaChapelle

“I went to art high school and thought I’d be a painter. Unfortunately I didn’t finish high school, but that’s always been part of my work.” – David LaChapelle

“I’m a photographer, period. I love photography, the immediacy of it. I like the craft, the idea of saying ‘I’m a photographer.” – David LaChapelle

“People say photographs don’t lie, mine do.” – David LaChapelle

“I didn’t see any difference between being a photographer or being an artist. I didn’t make those boundaries. If someone wants to think it’s art, that’s great, but I’ll let history decide.” – David LaChapelle

“Then I got this idea in my head that magazines were like a gallery and if you got your magazine page ripped out and someone stuck it on their refrigerator, then that was a museum – someone’s private museum.” – David LaChapelle

“You just do what you love, and then a style happens later on.” – David LaChapelle

“I was working in this very bombastic style. I didn’t really know about style. I didn’t think about it: I did what I was interested in, what I was attracted to, what I was drawn to. I was drawn to color, and I was drawn to humor, and I was drawn to sexuality and spontaneity. It was all really intuitive. I never really thought, “Well this is the style…” – David LaChapelle

“I wanted it to provide an escape route, I wanted to make pictures that were fantastic and took you into another world, one that was brighter. I started off with this idea.” – David LaChapelle

“For me, it’s easier to like more things than to dislike them; I’m not a critic in that sense. I find it easier to like more, to be more open and enjoy more things, which has given me more opportunities.” – David LaChapelle

“I never want people to be repulsed with my pictures; I always want to attract people.” – David LaChapelle

“Just as Renaissance artists provided narratives for the era they lived in, so do I. I’m always looking beyond the surface. I’ve done that ever since I first picked up a camera.” – David LaChapelle

“In the fashion world, I was always an outsider, but I made people look good, so I had a career.” – David LaChapelle

“My idea was that if I took a picture of somebody and years later, or whenever, they would die and if someone wanted to know who this person was, they could take one of these pictures and it would tell who the person was.” – David LaChapelle

“I have this idea that you can use glamour and still have it represent something that matters.” – David LaChapelle

“The tools I learned photographing celebrities, now I want to use them to sell ideas.” – David LaChapelle

“The adornment of the body is a human need. I don’t see anything superficial about it unless your life becomes very materialistic.” – David LaChapelle

“I like thinking about the fragility of the human flesh and our bodies – our decay and eventual death.” – David LaChapelle

“It’s much harder to work for yourself, by yourself, than to create work for a gallery, because there are no limits and you can do anything you want. It’s always easier when you have a parameter, when you have a limit. You can work within the limit and push it and walk the line, but when you’re given absolutely no limits, it’s harder. You must really think. It’s more challenging.” – David LaChapelle

“I’ve never wanted to be part of an inner circle of any scene. I’ve always been an outsider looking to question and subvert.” – David LaChapelle

“Success to me is being a good person, treating people well.” – David LaChapelle